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So what do you think will emerge from the cocoon in Guardians of the Galaxy #24?

So if you take a look at the cover to issue #24 of the Guardians of the Galaxy, you’ve got a hand emerging out of some sort of muck. So whose hand is that? Who or what’s going to emerge from the cocoon?

Here’s the solicitation text:

A REALM OF KINGS ISSUE! The universe faces one of its greatest evils—and no one can see it coming! The Magus, the necromantic shadow-half of Adam Warlock, is not dead after all…and only a small and hapless band of heroes—heroes who should be dead, too—can stop him! Are they back from the grave permanently, and what will we finally see emerge from the enigmatic coccoon?

The color scheme seems to denote that maybe it’s Magus popping out, but that seems too obvious. So who or what else could it be?

Comments

16 Comments

Alan Coil

agent_torpor

Matt Lazorwitz

I’m with agent_torpor. The Magus seems to be out and about already, and Thanos’s first confrontation with Warlock was part of the Magus Saga, where Thanos aided in destroying the Magus and his future. With the Magus back, I think Thanos might come back just to try to destroy him again.

DrunkJack

deco

First off, that’s a wonderful cover. The idea is simple but rendered beautifully with thanks mostly to the beautiful colors that make it sing. If that had been a more muted palate, that image wouldn’t have half the impact it does.

As for the mystery of it, well, we can’t say for certain that the solicitation text’s “coccoon” [sic] is what is displayed in the cover. It could be symbolic after all. GotG’s covers are usually representative but do lean a little on the pin-up side. The three contenders for who that could be are: Thanos, The Magus or Adam Warlock.

It could be Thanos the former Champion of Death brought back to restore balance by once again battling The Magus, The Champion of Life (so named in his first appearances). The Magus could have more to do with Realm of Kings’ alternate universe that Quasar and Moondragon have encountered; it’s been described as “a cancer” and “a universe where life won”. This would be tragic for Thanos who got the relationship and acceptance from Lady Death that he always wanted at the end of Annihilation. It would be fun to see how his return would impact Drax who is trying to find his place now that he no longer needs to destroy. Of course, Kronos might reenlist Drax at that point.

The cocoon is undoubtedly the one that the Church of Universal Truth has been protecting since the beginning of the series. It is worth remembering that timelines are shifting here. The Magus took over Adam’s body to fight the Imperial Guard before Adam realigned reality to the karmic path he had destroyed years before, so it’s possible that in the space/time realignment a cocoon got dropped back there and either Adam (waiting to pop out and save the day) or Magus (as a backup plan) is inside it. Also, the original Magus was Adam from the future sent back to the past, so it’s only natural that there are time lost bodies floating around ready to get back into the mix.

Of course, it could also be another Magus! When Adam split away his good and evil sides when he had the Infinity Gauntlet, and that evil side took the name and appearance of Magus and started the Infinity War and also battled Captain Marvel and his sister Phylla. So if they really wanted to make things interesting it could be the Magus Shade and not just Future Magus. But I really doubt that will happen. It could also be The Goddess, or Kismet or Janie Chin. But those options are really far out there.

As a long standing and suffering Adam Warlock fan I’m excited that he’s in the forefront again. DnA have been subtly tending to his story into the background of GotG for a while now and it’s great to see it bloom here.